Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / March 28, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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Viewpoints Recruiter appointment opens door for future Members of the Economic Development Commission made a good choice in naming John Howard as Hoke County's first fulitime developer. Although Howard is relatively new to the community, he has proven himself to be a leader and a doer. His credentials are im pressive. Working with the Raeford Kiwanis Club, Howard has taken on numerous fund raising projects like the Circus, the TMH Carnival and the pancake supper and has led them to success. Before coming to Hoke County, Howard was employed with AT&T and dealt with top executives of the Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has Main Street Raeford experience and knows the difficulties of being a merchant in an economically sluggish com munity. Both of these occupations have given him the mettle he needs to forge a better Hoke County. However, even with Howard's solid background, one cannot ex pect him to return home each evening dragging a bag full of in dustries. In fact he would be lucky to land a new employer in the next three years. Howard's first task, beyond a training period, will be to make Hoke County a saleable package. It will be his job to lead the con tinued Tight on U.S. 401, to work for direct telephone service with Fayettevilk, to get a downtown revitalization movement rolling, to monitor the establishment of a college satellite, to vigorously pursue the effort to create countywide zoning and a countywide water system and to see to the building of an industrial park. Once these jobs are completed, the chances of landing a new plant will be much easier. John Howard's agenda is a full one, and the future of Hoke County is riding on his ability. We commend the commission for the appointment of Howard as the county's economic developer, and are relieved that he can Anal ly get started on improving alt of our lives. I don* urvder?*?r>d W/ HaroVd.TKe. rnap s f\aeCocd, >ouV V>erc they're bvAxVdiciq a resVo Ararvl and VvoteV..." "C.\audvB, do NOV* VY\ic\\^ Vjoc Coo.\d Y\a?c crossed c*e?- ?<\to VV%e ... " Lawmakers divided on wages The first major liberal vs. con servative battle of the 198S General Assembly appears to have begun. Call it "comparable worth" or call it "pay equity," but a plan to re order state employee salaries pro mises to set off the kind of battle that only the Equal Rights Amend ment heretofore had been capable of prompting. Almost everyone will agree that state salaries don't always make sense. A highly educated librarian, for example, might not make much more money than a janitor. Those who advocate a re-ordering of state salaries say jobs which women kave-Xzaditionally held are paid less than those traditionally held by men. In 1984, the General Assembly approved a $600,000 appropria tion to have an independent analyst put a point value on every state job. The idea is to eventually adjust salaries to eliminate ine quities. But since that study began, con servatives have been complaining that the comparable worth study could have wide-ranging ramifica tion throughout the North Watching By Paul T. O'Connor Carolina economy. In mid-March, an influential moderate Democrat filed a bill that would stop the study. Rep. Richard Wright, D-Columbus, co-chairman of the committee overseeing the study, says the legislature never really debated the comparable worth study. In 1984, he says, the ap propriation was slipped into the budget at the last minute, at a time when legislators were rushing to go home. "Something of this scope needs some debate," he said. At the least, he argues, his bill to repeal the study will give the legislature a chance to talk through the idea of comparable worth. Wright says he hasn't made up his mind on comparable worth, but he can list a bunch of arguments against it. At the heart of his opposition lies his belief that salaries should be determined by the laws of sup ply and demand. "Here we're say ing that free enterprise has to be taught in the public schools," Wright said, "and comparable worth is the antithesis of the free enterprise system." A person's salary is now set by the demand for his services, Wright said. With the comparable worth study, a group of analysts are making a subjective determina tion of what they feel a person should be paid. "That is an ar tificial means of determining salaries," Wright argued. Then consider the ramifications of the study, Wright says. In the state of Washington, the legislature conducted a study and determined the state couldn't af ford the proposals. But state employees sued, used the study for evidence, and a court ordered the legislature to raise salaries by a half billion dollars. "It could break the budget," Wright warns. Wright says comparable worth is also bad politics for the Democratic Party. "This whole idea is considered bo be very anti business ... because they fear that it will spread to them. I don't think the Democratic Party wants to create that image." Although many large companies already use a point system for determining salaries, many other business leaders worry that com parable worth will shake up the labor market and drive labor costs through the roof. Wright is chairman of the House Judiciary II Committee which will consider the repeal bill. House Speaker Liston Ramsey says "I'm not going to bother with it (com parable worth,)" and betting is that the House will repeal the study. Liberal proponents of com parable worth are well-positioned to defend their study in the Senate, however. These will be told in an upcoming column. The News-Journal ? Published Every Thursday by _____ ? Rat ford, N.C. 2*376 Subscription Rates la Advance In Conaty Per Year? S10.00 6 Months? $5.00 Oal of County Per Year? $12.00 6 Months? 56.00 LOUIS H. FOGLEMAN, JR Publisher WARREN N. JOHNSTON Editor HENRY L. BLUE Production Supervisor MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor SAM C. MORRIS Contributing Editor ANN N. WEBB Advertising Representative Second Class Postajr at Raetord, N.C. (USPS MS- 260) Letters T o The Editor Mrs. Cameron started Raeford Yule lights To the Editor: Let me compliment your write up of Mrs. Florrie Cameron. It was a very good listing of her many accomplishments and richly deserved. There is one thing that she started, however, which I have not seen or heard mentioned. Mrs. Cameron started the first move ment to decorate Main Street at Christmastime. 1 don't remember the year but it was the first effort at decorating for Christmas. When the idea came to her it was too late to order any colored bulbs (no one in Raeford sold colored bulbs at that time). Mrs. Cameron consulted Mr. Sexton of Raeford Hardware Co. as to the best type of paint to apjfly to regular light bulbs. This process involved mixing several types and colors of paint. The bulbs were dipped in the mixed paints of several colors and hung on some type of cord or wire to dry. Former Clerk of Court, E.E. Smith was called in to help and he had some good ideas about how this should be done. With his help and Mrs. Cameron's idea and with the help of some other volunteers, Raford had its first Christmas lights. ' H.L. Gatlin Jr. Tribute appreciated To the Editor: The Woman's Club of Raeford appreciates your tribute to Mrs. Florrie Cameron. Her leadership in this county's early days was so selfless. She led the Woman's Club in establishing a tradition of com munity concern and service. The club works still to live up to the ideals raised by such women. Brenda M. Edwards President, Raeford Woman's Club Fox hunting ban should continue To the Editor: I am disturbed over the recent attempts of some Hoke Countians (i.e, hunters) to begin killing foxes because, as they say, the rabbits are disappearing. This kind of thinker has allowed hawks, wolves, the bald eagle, and the fox, to be hunted to the brink of extinction - all in the name of "predator control"! Under this rationale, wolves have been all but eliminated in the lower 48 states. Now, in Alaska, the wolves last retreat, game managers are con tinuing an aerial killing program in a misguided attempt to artificially raise moose populations. Why do they want to raise the moose population? Why for the elite minority of big game hunters, of course! Yet, recent research has shown bears kills six times as many moose as wolves do. More moose calves drown than are killed by wolves. The impact of habitat loss, weather, and poaching are thought to be more significant than wolf predation - yet nearly 300 wolves will be killed this winter - entire packs destroyed. And why? I say again, to satisfy demands of large and increasing numbers of hunters! This same thinking has had the Japanese to slaughter thousands of dolphins. In California, the sea otter is be ing slaughtered by fishermen who say the otter is stealing their catch, pelicans are mutilated for the same reasons. Recently, Vernon Bevill Jr., Ex ecutive Director of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said many problems related to wildlife resources are caused by population growth and the "grow ing demand for outdoor recrea tion." "We need to improve research. We have problems. There's been a decline in small game like rabbits and quail, partly because of urban growth and new farm practices." 1 realize hunters are a strong, vocal lobby. However, I urge the local "powers that be" to not allow the slaughter of foxes simply because the rabbits are disappear ing. Find out the true cause. I do not want my child, nor yours to see a fox stuffed in a museum and ask what it is because it lives no more, as I have seen the passenger pigeon - now extinct. We must share our world with other animals. We do this through careful study and planning - not by listening to the demands of a grow ing majority of hunters. The animals cannot speak for themselves. Some of us must care enough to do it for them. Sincerely, Catherine Brown Shepard Hoke Quiz Bowl team made a good showing To the Editor: Sarah Baucom, Sue Davis and I have had the pleasure of working with some special high school students over the past two months. Tripp Simpson, Darryl Snapp, Josh Pate, William Carter, Jay Pate and Chris Clark represented Hoke County High School recently in Durham at the District Quiz Bowl Competition. These students have practiced each Sunday afternoon during the months of January, February and March preparing for the Quiz Bowl competition. They did not win the district competition, but they certainly did represent Hoke High School, Raeford and Hoke County well. . It is refreshing to see such attrac tive, well-mannered, and in telligent young men competing in an academically oriented program. I appreciate the chance of work ing with these young men, and 1 am grateful to them for allowing Hoke County Public Library the opportunity of sponsoring them in the 1985 District Quiz Bowl Com petition. Sincerely, Elizabeth B. Burgess Politician's ethics are Capitol scandal Dear editor: People are always talking about the ethical standards in Washington. They say it's a scan dal about the way politicians ac cept big campaign contributions from certain people and then always keep them in mind when they vote on measures those people are interested in. Investment in a Washington" politician, it's said, frequently pays better returns than stocks and bonds. Therefore there's a certain amount of puzzlement in an article I read in a newspaper the other day about a man who was up for ap pointment to a high government job. Seems he had been rather free and loose about borrowing money from people in his home state and then helping them get government jobs. But, he said, "I have a much higher sensitivity to these matters now than I did before I arrived in Washington." That astounded me. Here's a man who had to get to Washington to improve his ethics.. Puzzled, I re-read the article and now have a clearer picture. What he said also was he "promised to be more alert to appearances of impropriety." Now he's on the right track. He has mastered the Washington ethic. It's all right to do a favor for somebody who invests in you, whether it was by a campaign con tribution or an interest-free loan, but be quiet about it. Washington has grabbed power over lots of things, but when it comes to State's Rights over political ethics, the states and their legislatures are holding their own. J. A. And they say, 'waking up is hard to do' Getting up in the morning has never been one of the things I count on the list of my top ten favorites. Before I got into the newspaper business, I would rather have eaten a bucket of worms than get up at the crack of dawn. * Only once, prior to six years ago, had I gotten up before the sun, and that was to go duck hunting. I was 12 years old. My brother and 1 spent the dark morning hours in a sinking duck blind, eating hushpuppies left over from the previous evening's meal. They were greasy and tasted like the hand kerchief where we had stored them after they were purloined from the restaurant table. We split open the hushpuppies and made sandwiches with pieces of Hershey bar. It helped kill the taste and took our minds off waiting for dawn to crack. la recent years, I bare decided it is spiritually sound to get up ear ly In the morning, rite with the chickens and all that stuff. In fact , I fed so strongly about the philosophy , I often set my alarm an hour mm tmiia than necessary. ? ^ 1 MB myself, setting up early ii good for my soul. Those swamis, who walk oa burning coals and sleep embeds of nails, also probably Warren Johnston The Puppy Papers tell themselves the same thing. "Yeah, I think I'll get up a little early tomorrow morning, so I can read the paper and relax before I have to go to work," I tell my wife, as I set the old Devastator for 3 a.m. Of course, when the blood curdling alarm goes off, I usually reset it three times before I'm thrown out of bed by some enraged woman who had planned to sleep "at least until the Sun comes up/' Certain mornings, when compelled by my job to rise prior to 5 a.m., one alarm usually works. But, I am the first to admit that on those mornings, It takes a while for me to get rolling. Normally, I get lost in my closet, thinking It is the shower. After a few minutes of standing among the hanging clothes and after the water does not come, I am able to find tka way to the bathroom. I drift through breakfast and a glance at the newspaper, harassed only by three cats and the dog, who all complain bitterly about the food service. Before long, the first cup of coffee kicks in, and 1 discover that 1 am outside walking to work. Being out that time of morning is so exhilarating that I almost believe getting up was worth the effort. Roosters crow, dawn cracks and birds chirp. My soul feels revived. The only problem with being out that time of day, is that it is lonely. If I am going to be awake and walking the streets before 6 a.m., I'd like a little notice, I tell myself. I'd like to see someone who recognizes me and will talk about it. Someone who will say things in a crowded restaurant or during a public meeting like: "Boy, you were up early the other morning. I was just letting the dog oat, and I saw you walking to work. That's really something." However, as the day wears dn, the consequences of my early ris ing sink in. My eyelids get heavy , and I realize, anyone who is up that time of morning was probably lost in their closet and couldn't have cared lets who was walking the streets. .
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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March 28, 1985, edition 1
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